A Silenced Hero
by Thecactusman
Summary: Seven years ago, Ash died. His throat was slit by Team Rocket, however, his body was never found. Now, after a failed attempt to attack the Sinnoh League by Team Rocket, Cynthia learned of a man who Team Rocket fears. She heads off to investigate this man, but will she be able to accept the truth? And when this man brings news of a greater threat, what will she do?


**Well hello everyone. This is my second story for Pokémon. **

**My first story got a pretty good reception from most people which inspired me to write a second story, so it's thanks to all you wonderful people that read and reviewed my first story that this second one is here.**

**As decided by the poll I had up on my profile, this will be a rayshipping story.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

-Slopes of Mt. Silver-

A young blonde-haired lady is seen climbing up the mountain alongside her loyal and trusted Garchomp. With the wind blowing and the snow falling, the trek was arduous and challenging. The trek was being made solely upon a rumor. She had hoped for the conditions to be nicer, but alas, the fates did not seem to wish this journey to be easy.

The young woman was rather beautiful. She drew the attention of many men, but none of them interested her. She was a Pokémon trainer and that was all she really needed to be. That did not, however, prevent her looks from drawing the attention of many. She had long blonde hair, which concealed one of her gray eyes. She was tall, maybe 5' 9", and had a rather nicely developed body. She hardly had to try to stay in shape, as all of her training and adventuring kept her nicely conditioned and ready to handle any challenges that were thrown at her.

As she travelled further up the mountainside, the weather grew worse and tried harder to push her back down. She would not, however, give in to such a petty thing as nature. She had come prepared for the conditions, even if she had been hoping for nicer ones. Normally, she dressed in a thin layer of black clothes, but for a dangerous ascent up possibly the most treacherous mountain in the world, she was dressed accordingly. She had on a thick jacket, made to withstand the weather, keep out the wind; rain; and snow, and make sure she stayed warm. Like all her clothing, it was black. The hood was pulled up to protect her head from the worsening winds and snowfall. Under her jacket, she had several layers of clothing to keep her body functioning at its peak performance. For pants, she wore water and wind proof snow pants. She wore black boots as well.

As bundled as she was though, she could feel the deep chill in the air. Some force, natural or otherwise, did not want her to climb this mountain. The further up she made it, the more uncertain she was about her idea. The thought that someone could possibly live here, in these conditions, was preposterous. Her rational mind tried to convince her that she should turn around and get back to the warmth and safety of the valley floor. However, the part of her mind that drove her curiosity and thirst for knowledge was telling her that there were answers on this mountainside. That if she made it high enough, everything would fit in to place and make sense.

And so she continued her ascent through the treacherous conditions until she didn't think she could handle it anymore. She turned to look at her faithful Garchomp who had insisted upon staying out of her ball to accompany her trainer on the dangerous trek. The dragon Pokémon looked at her trainer before letting loose a small jet of flames to show her continued support of this trek.

The trainer smiled and forced herself to continue. She wasn't sure how much further she would be able to make it, so she decided to look for a cave or a sheltered area to set up camp for the night before continuing her journey the next day. After another half hour of searching, she saw what she hoped was a cave. She pointed to the cave with a hand covered in a thick, protective glove. Garchomp followed the gaze and together, the two forced their way to it and entered the mouth of it.

The young lady turned to face her Garchomp, "Well Garchomp, this is it for today. We should be able to make it to the summit tomorrow, so rest up and make sure you're ready to go."

Before Garchomp could respond however, another voice was heard. It sounded like a Pokémon and when the woman looked up, what she saw surprised her. Near the peak of a treacherous mountain in which finding food and living would be nearly impossible, was a Gardevoir. As far as she knew, Gardevoir didn't even live in this region. The sight surprised both her and her Pokémon.

Within her mind, a voice spoke. "_You should not have come here. If you come with no ill intentions, I shall teleport you to the base of the mountain; if you do come with ill intentions, I shall cripple you before teleporting you to the Viridian City police station. Once you have decided upon which of those options you would like, let me know. My master does not like having uninvited guests."_

The young lady stared at the Gardevoir in surprise, "How are you talking into my mind like that? And I promise I mean no harm, I'm simply looking for the man known as the Monster of Mt. Silver-"

Before she could continue, a powerful psychic force threw her into the wall of the cave. The impact stunned her and knocked the wind from her lungs. For several seconds she just blinked before the sound of her Garchomp in pain brought her back to awareness.

Blinking the spots out of her vision, she turned to look at her Garchomp. The sight caused her even more surprise. Her Garchomp was being restrained by the vines of a Pokémon that hadn't been there earlier. As Venasaur held her down, a Torterra that had also just appeared was standing on her and using Giga Drain to absorb all of her energy. As she watched, Garchomp fell unconscious.

She opened her mouth to protest this treatment, but was silenced by Gardevoir, "_Do not speak. Further words will only incriminate you further. The only people who know my master by that name are Team Rocket and… Never mind that, that doesn't matter. Regardless, for you to know him by that name means that you are a criminal. Now I shall wait for my master to pass judgment before punishing you accordingly."_

The lady tried to open her mouth to protest, but found that a powerful psychic force was preventing her from doing so, forcing her to just wait and hope that Gardevoir's trainer would put an end to this madness.

After several minutes of waiting, the lady felt a powerful force enter the cave and she looked around to try and pinpoint it. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to locate the new presence. Gardevoir did not have such trouble and immediately looked towards the back of the cave before speaking. "_Master, this is the woman we tried to prevent from reaching here, but somehow she made it past the weather. I believe she is a member of Team Rocket as she knew you as the Monster of Mt. Silver."_

After that, Gardevoir stopped speaking and the lady waited to hear a response. Unfortunately, she heard nothing. For some reason though, Gardevoir looked as if she could hear a response as she frowned before speaking up again, "_Are you sure master? I mean, I trust you, but how do you know she isn't a member of Team Rocket?"_

The lady sighed in relief, it seemed whoever this mysterious figure was, he had identified her and knew she wasn't a criminal. After waiting for a few more moments, Gardevoir turned towards her with an apologetic look, "_I apologize for my rash actions. It seems you are not a member of Team Rocket or th-"_ at that, Gardevoir stopped talking and the lady frowned. Before she could ask though, Gardevoir continued, "_Anyways, my master has informed me that you are in fact one of the good people, the champion of Sinnoh in fact. It is rare to see you in these parts though, as we are so far from your home. My master wishes to know what brings you here. Because he respects you, he will hear what you have to say before passing judgment."_

The champion of Sinnoh let out a sigh of relief before gathering her thoughts. This mysterious figure was clearly powerful as he somehow managed to live near the summit of Mt. Silver and had scared Team Rocket out of passing through the area. That was actually how she had been tipped off about him. She knew that screaming at him for her treatment would do no good, no matter how much she wanted to. Instead, she gathered her thoughts before speaking, "Before I tell you that, is there any chance you can heal my Garchomp? She has done nothing wrong and does not deserve this treatment."

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then Gardevoir disappeared before reappearing in front of Garchomp. Then, the two grass Pokémon released their binds on her and Gardevoir released some healing energy into Garchomp, awakening the fainted Pokémon. As soon as she awakened, Garchomp tried to lash out, however, she was now restrained by Gardevoir's psychic energy.

Gardevoir looked at Cynthia with a strained face, "_Call off your Pokémon. I am not as powerful as my friends and cannot keep her down for long. If she is going to attack us, we will have to knock her out again."_

The lady looked at Garchomp and sighed, "Garchomp, stand down. It was a simple misunderstanding. They mean no harm, so please stop fighting."

Obediently, Garchomp stopped resisting. She didn't look happy about it, but her trainer commanded it and she would always listen to her oldest friend. Once Garchomp had calmed down a little, Gardevoir turned back to the champion, "_Now that that has been taken care of, would you please answer my master? He would like to know what you are doing here and how you found out about him."_

"Well, can I see your master's face? I'd like to talk to him in person if he doesn't mind. And maybe he could ask these questions himself."

Gardevoir glared at her, "_You would do well not to make demands in our house. You are here as a guest and as such, you have no power. Now please, answer his questions so we can move on and send you home."_

With a sigh, she gave in and answered, "I'm here for answers. You see, recently, we prevented a planned attack on the Sinnoh Pokémon League. We managed to capture a few of the culprits, members of Team Rocket. We questioned them on why they chose Sinnoh as opposed to their native Kanto or Johto. They told us that those leagues were held too close to Mt. Silver. When questioned about what was wrong with Mt. Silver, they told us a monster lived there who had no mercy for Team Rocket. They had found that as long as they left it alone, nothing bad would happen and they didn't want to commit the resources to finding an answer to the problem, so they just avoid the mountain at all costs. This intrigued me to the point that I decided to investigate this so called Monster of Mt. Silver.

"Now that I've found you, I was hoping I could learn a little about your dislike for Team Rocket and maybe see if you wanted to help us try to shut them down."

For several minutes, no noise was made. She began thinking that maybe this man would just kick her out without answering her questions. She began wondering if it had all been a front and he was secretly working for Team Rocket. That thought scared her as she had seen the power of his Pokémon and didn't fancy herself in a fight if he had more Pokémon at this level.

Finally, Gardevoir turned back to her. She noticed that Gardevoir was smirking. Before she could ask though, Gardevoir spoke again, "_Well, my master would like me to quote him directly here, he says 'Cynthia, I'm disappointed in you. You seem to believe that Team Rocket is a threat. You being the smart young lady you are should be able to see through that little ruse. If Team Rocket was the real threat, I would have shut them down years ago. As it stands, there is more to it than meets the eye and you still haven't noticed it yet. Once you smarten up to what's really going on, I will consider helping you, however, until then, there is nothing more for me to say. I shall have my Gardevoir teleport you to a location of your choice. Now, leave me alone.' That is what he had to say to you. Anyways, tell me where you want to go and I will make it happen."_

This whole situation infuriated Cynthia. She was the most powerful of the champions and considered one of the most intelligent trainers in the world. Yet here she was at the top of Mt. Silver being mocked by a trainer who wouldn't even show his face. Slowly, her face grew red in rage, "I will go nowhere. I am not leaving until I get my answers. If you do teleport me away, I will just come back again. The next time, I will be even more prepared. Now that I know you are here, I could probably get another champion or other high level trainer to accompany me. So I give you a choice, answer me now, or wait for me to come back and arrest you to bring you in for questioning."

After several moments, Gardevoir responded, "_You have some nerve to make such a demand, however, no matter how hard you try, you will gain nothing. My master defeated the previous king of this mountain himself. Using his own power he won his title and made the previous king his own Pokémon. As it stands, all of his Pokémon are so powerful that the local Pokémon, who are capable of stalling or defeating the strongest of trainers, fear them. If you think you and your pathetic friends are enough to bring him down, you are dead wrong. However, it seems you have the wrong impression of him. I can assure you that my master is a truly wonderful human and he has his reasons for remaining so secretive. He does not want to involve anyone in his work unless absolutely necessary. The danger involved is monumental and he has no wish to endanger anyone, especially an old acquaintance. Now please, let me know a destination to transport you to."_

Now Cynthia was even more confused. Apparently she once knew whoever this guy was and he had somehow defeated the previous ruler of this mountain by himself. From what she knew, the ruler of this mountain was supposed to be the strongest Tyranitar, and to defeat him by himself, without the aid of his Pokémon it seemed, was unbelievable. She also wanted to know what made this guy think he was so much stronger than everyone else in the world. That slight at her ability as a trainer as well as at the strength of her Pokémon stung a little and it made her rather mad. She knew that there was always someone better, but she also knew she was the most powerful of the regional champions; she hadn't lost a battle in nearly ten years. Yet his Gardevoir claimed that he could defeat her along with anyone else she brought along with no trouble.

After pondering everything for several minutes, she answered, "I challenge you to a battle, whoever you are. If you are so much better than me, prove it. You might have defeated Garchomp, but that was because you used two Pokémon and caught her by surprise. In a real battle, I bet you wouldn't stand a chance against me."

Gardevoir glared at the champion for several seconds before she heard her master tell her what to do. She looked at Cynthia and spoke, _"It would seem that your petty words amuse my master, so he offers you a deal. He will give you a full 6-on-6 battle. Once you are out of Pokémon, you will be returned to Sinnoh via teleportation. However, for each one of his Pokémon you defeat, he will answer a single question. If, by some miracle, you manage to defeat all of his Pokémon, he will answer all of your questions. If he wins though, he will answer no more questions and you must promise to never return here again. He will choose the battlefield. Your choice is simple, agree to these terms, or leave now."_

Cynthia thought about this for a while. On the one hand, she still felt she was being underestimated, on the other hand though, she was being given a chance to get the information she wanted. This guy apparently thought highly of himself and Cynthia knew the best way to correct that was to show the guy his place. She would beat him by his own terms and then she would get the answer she wanted. Smirking, she looked past the Gardevoir to where she thought the man was, "I agree to your terms. Choose your battlefield and we shall start the battle. The sooner I get my answers, the better."

After she said that, she felt the presence of the man leave the cave and she took a deep breathe to clear her mind. She knew she couldn't underestimate this guy. Anyone who could survive living on this mountain was clearly strong, and if his Pokémon were as powerful as Gardevoir claimed, then this would be a challenging fight. She knew she could win, but she would have to go all out just to be sure. She smiled at the prospect of going all out; it had been several years since she last fought someone using all her skill and abilities.

Her thought were interrupted by Gardevoir, "_If I were you, I would start thinking of a single question to get the answers you want. I don't think you will defeat a single Pokémon, but if you do manage it somehow, I can assure you that it will be the only one you defeat. You think because you are the strongest of the champions that you are on the same level as my master, and to an extent you are correct, however, my master has done one thing that you cannot even begin to compete with. He has trained himself and his Pokémon to be immune to all weather. You might think that is unimportant, but when you realize where this battle is taking place, you will understand why you stand no chance against him."_

Cynthia tried to put that off as meaningless boasting, but something about the way it had been said struck her as truly sincere, like Gardevoir was truly giving her what she thought was good advice. Although she tried to brush it off, it still bothered her.

After thinking to herself for several more minutes, she felt the presence of the man return. Then, before she realized what was happening, she was transported to the summit of the mountain.

Before she could comprehend that she had just been teleported, she realized that she was freezing. She had thought that the climb to the cave had been cold and windy, but this was even worse. The chill had her shivering instantly and even through her many layers and her thick winter coat the chill dug into her. It sunk into her and quickly made its way all through her body. She couldn't believe that weather this cold existed.

Once the cold had sunk in, she noticed the wind. Although she was covered and windproof for most of her body, the part of her face that was exposed to the wind she could already feel developing windburn. She was also having a hard time remaining on her feet. It took all of her effort to not fall down and make a fool of herself. The only thing she could take comfort in was that her opponent would be having to deal with the same conditions.

When she looked across the field though, she was shocked. For the first time, she could vaguely see the man. With the wind and snow it was impossible to see him clearly, but she could see enough to be amazed. He appeared to be wearing nothing more than a ragged black cloak that concealed most of his body. She guessed it had a hood, but it wasn't capable of remaining on in this weather. In fact, she was amazed hers was staying on. Even without the hood though, she couldn't make out his face, just that he appeared to have dark hair, black maybe, that was long enough to be blown in the wind, but not long enough to get in his eyes and cause problems. He also didn't appear to be struggling against the wind at all. He stood like a statue and even though she couldn't see, she could feel his eyes boring into her and watching her suffer. She thought she even caught a smirk on his face.

It was then that she remembered what Gardevoir had said, he had trained himself and his Pokémon to be immune to weather. She had tried to pass that off as mere bragging and boasting and nothing but hollow words, but now it appeared to be true. She was barely able to think in this weather and here this guy was showing no signs that anything was wrong outside.

Suddenly, she felt herself warming up. Surprised, she turned to see her Garchomp standing by her side and blowing a small jet of flames next to her to keep her warm. She smiled at the dragon, "Thanks for that Garchomp, but try to conserve your energy as much as possible. If you're needed for this battle, I don't want you to be tired to begin with because you were trying to take care of me."

Garchomp just snorted and continued heating the air. In her head, she heard Gardevoir speak up, "_Well, now that everyone appears ready for battle, I will be the judge. Each trainer may use six Pokémon, there will be no substitutions. Once one trainer is out of Pokémon, the battle is over. With every Pokémon my master loses, the challenger may have one question answered. If the challenger should lose all of her Pokémon, she will be escorted away from the mountain and promise to never return. Each trainer, send out a Pokémon and let the battle begin."_

Immediately, the man tossed a pokeball out and a Glaceon appeared. Cynthia took several seconds to observe the battlefield before choosing her Pokémon. She knew that the weather sucked. The snow was still falling in the wind and the field was covered in maybe a foot of snow as it was. She could immediately tell why he had chosen Glaceon. As a Pokémon, Glaceon were well equipped to deal with this weather. Their ability would also make hiding from attacks much easier. She also noticed that the abnormally cold and frigid weather wasn't causing Glaceon any trouble at all.

Cynthia knew this would be a challenging battle and she wondered if maybe Gardevoir had been right, this guy held all the advantages. Even if their Pokémon were on the same level, since his could handle the weather and hers couldn't, he would have a massive advantage. If he was able to fully utilize Glaceon's ability, she would be in even more trouble. After thinking about everything for a while, she figured the best way to start was with a type advantage. She quickly grabbed a pokeball and tossed it out, "Lucario, I need your assistance!"

With a flash of light, Lucario appeared on the battlefield and immediately felt the cold. His body hunched over and Cynthia could see him shivering despite himself. She felt bad for her Pokémon, but she needed to win this battle. "Lucario, I know it's cold, but I need your help to win this battle. This man holds the answers I need and he won't tell unless I can defeat him."

Lucario gave a curt nod and tried to brace himself against the weather. Once he had resumed his stance, Gardevoir's voice could be heard, _"The battle between my master and Cynthia will now begin!"_

Immediately, Glaceon blasted a sphere of ice colored energy into the sky. Before Cynthia could even identify the attack, the snow picked up and was mixed in with ice. She immediately realized what had happened and groaned. Glaceon had just made the weather even more into his favor. However, she was the champion for a reason and she would not go down without a fight. "Lucario, find Glaceon and use Brick Break!"

Instantly, Lucario perked up and tried to find Glaceon, unfortunately, he wasn't having much success until Glaceon materialized behind him and hit him with a Shadow Ball. He turned around to retaliate only to find that Glaceon had already disappeared. The attack hadn't hurt him too much, but he could feel the damage that had been dealt. As he scanned where Glaceon had been as well as he could have run off to, he got hit from behind by another Shadow Ball. Once again though, as he turned to retaliate, Glaceon was already gone.

Cynthia watched as her Lucario was hit by a pair of Shadow Ball's and couldn't react fast enough to catch Glaceon before he disappeared back into the snow and ice. She tried to figure out what was going on but couldn't come up with anything except Glaceon using his ability to the best of his advantage and Lucario being slowed down just enough from the extreme conditions to prevent him from landing a hit. She tried to formulate a strategy to counter this attacks style and eventually got an idea, "Lucario, run around with ExtremeSpeed to search for Glaceon. Don't let yourself be hit. When you find him, use Brick Break to bring him down before finishing him off with Aura Sphere!"

Lucario immediately jumped into action and began running around the field in order to prevent getting hit and in order to search for Glaceon. He also found that the physical exertion was helping him to warm up and move faster. He was so glad to be warming up, he almost didn't see Glaceon flying at him with a glowing white forepaw.

He almost laughed as he saw Glaceon attempting to use Rock Smash against him. That attack was way weaker than his Brick Break, plus, he knew that Glaceon didn't tend to have high attack strengths to begin with. Regardless, he clashed his Brick Break against Glaceon's Rock Smash and the two attacks cancelled each other out. The shock from the attacks being equal almost prevented him from immediately launching his Aura Sphere. However, being as well trained as he was, he was still able to launch his follow-up attack and land a direct hit on Glaceon.

Cynthia let out a small cheer as she saw the Aura Sphere hit, but it ended when she heard Gardevoir speak into her mind, "_To think that you would fall for such a simple trick. Are you really a champion?"_

She quickly turned back to the battlefield to see her Lucario get hit by an Aura Sphere. She was stunned by this until she saw that Glaceon had a shiny sheen to him. She groaned at what she knew was a Mirror Coat attack and how she had been caught off guard by it. She had told her opponent her plan and he had quickly devised an effective counter that dealt massive damage to her Pokémon. She was a champion and she had gotten careless against someone she had known would be a good trainer.

The direct hit from his own super-effective move had dealt quite a bit of damage to Lucario. Combined with the slight damage he had already taken, he passed out. Cynthia saw her Pokémon fall and donned a confused expression, "Wait, that shouldn't have been enough to finish off Lucario, I know how strong he is and he should still be standing."

Inside her mind, Gardevoir spoke up, "_As a champion, you should know the effects of Shadow Ball. It occasionally weakens your Pokémon's defense against special attacks, such as Aura Sphere. That, combined with the negative effect the weather was having on your Pokémon, weakened him enough to allow the Aura Sphere to deal critical damage and end the battle. Lucario is unable to battle, will the challenger please send out her next Pokémon."_

Cynthia gritted her teeth. She hated to admit it but Gardevoir was right. She was a champion and for some reason she just wasn't battling as well as she should have. She figured the weather was part of it, but for some reason, this mysterious guy just really drove her crazy. There was something about him that kept her off-kilter. She wondered how much of this was strategy, but couldn't think for too long because the battle needed to continue. She recalled Lucario and thanked him before grasping her next pokeball and throwing it, "Roserade, take the field!"

In the middle of the snowy battlefield, Roserade appeared and was immediately affected by the chill. The grass-type Pokémon was immediately shivering so Cynthia once again called out in support, "I know the weather is terrible, but we need to win this fight in order to get the answers we need. I know you can do this, I believe in you."

At the words of encouragement, Roserade stood tall and took a battle stance. She glared across the field at her opponent who only smirked at her before disappearing. Cynthia called out a command before Glaceon could strike, "Cover the field in Toxic! Don't let Glaceon remain healthy!"

Roserade immediately released a massive stream of toxic poison across the field to try and hit Glaceon wherever he was hiding. However, the attack was instantly neutralized by a powerful Blizzard attack that erased the Toxic and immediately chilled Roserade even more. Being trapped within a Blizzard attack in weather already worse than most blizzards was an experience Roserade would have been happy to never experience, especially being weak to ice attacks. She had been trained to resist ice moves to a certain extent, but no amount of training would have been able to prevent this attack from hurting.

After almost a minute, the attack finally ended, leaving a knocked out Roserade on the field. Cynthia couldn't believe how powerful this Glaceon was and wondered if maybe it was this guy's starter, if so, that could explain why it was so powerful. It would also mean that if she defeated it, the rest of the battle would be easier. Hoping that that was the truth, she recalled her fallen Pokémon before sending out her next. "Togekiss, I know you are at a disadvantage here, but I need your help. Hopefully you can help to end this battle."

In a flash of light, Togekiss appeared in the air before Cynthia. The winds immediately took effect and began blowing the poor Pokémon around. Cynthia saw this and called out, "Togekiss, I know you can handle these winds. It'll be cold, but you are the best flyer I have and I know you can handle this."

Inspired by his trainer's words, Togekiss began working his way around the winds. Once he had gotten comfortable with the winds, Cynthia called out, "Use Shockwave to find him and then hit him with an Aura Sphere."

Togekiss complied and released an electric discharge from his body that covered the whole field, once it hit Glaceon, Togekiss immediately launched an Aura Sphere only to find that Glaceon had disappeared again. This caused the sphere to hit the snow on the ground and explode. Cynthia saw this and quirked an eyebrow, Aura Sphere should never miss, since it tracked the targets aura to move, so something must have gone wrong with the attack. She called out the combination again, but found that Togekiss was freefalling from being hit by an ice beam that froze his wings and prevented him from moving. Once he made contact with the ground, the round was over.

Cynthia quickly recalled her fallen Pokémon before groaning. She was a better trainer than this, yet this terrible weather was doing terrible things to this battle. Her opponent was clearly used to this kind of weather, so it didn't bother him or his Pokémon, but she just wasn't able to handle it and neither could her Pokémon. She began to think that maybe Gardevoir had been right about how badly she would get beaten in this battle. She knew she was good, but she couldn't do anything, half the time she couldn't even see the opposing Pokémon. On the other hand, the fact that Aura Sphere had missed kept popping into her mind. It hadn't been blocked by another attack, it had missed completely. She wanted to call it a fluke, but wondered if maybe there was more to it than that.

With all these thoughts running through her head, it took her a little longer to send out her next Pokémon. She grabbed the ball and got a determined look on her face, she might lose this battle, but she would at least defeat this Glaceon first. Her pride as a trainer demanded it, as did her thirst for the knowledge this man held. She didn't even know his name and yet she could tell he knew a lot. That thought confused her so she turned towards where Gardevoir was officiating, "Hey Gardevoir, mind telling me my opponents name? I like to know the name of all those I face in battle."

Gardevoir pondered her question for a few moments before answering, "_He no longer has a name. I can't tell you his history, but I can let you know that he once had a name that he no longer uses. Now send out your next Pokémon or forfeit the match."_

Cynthia sighed, that answer just made her more curious, regardless; she tossed out her next Pokémon. "Milotic, lend me your aid in battle!"

In the snow, the beautiful water snake appeared. She shivered at the cold, but hardened her resolve without any words from her trainer. Cynthia saw this and smiled, "I know these aren't the best conditions for battle, but I need your help to win this so I can get the answers I need to help keep the world safe. Now, use Aqua Ring and keep a Mirror Coat on to repel any special attacks."

Obediently, Milotic followed these commands and waited for her next orders. Before they came though, she was bombarded with a barrage of hearts that distracted her from the battle and drew her attention to the wonderfully attractive features of the Glaceon now standing before her. He had a strong build and was slightly larger than most Glaceon. The look in his eyes radiated power and when he smiled at her, her heart skipped a beat.

Cynthia groaned as she watched her beloved Pokémon fall in love with the opponent. This Glaceon was full of surprises; he appeared out of nowhere and disappeared the same way. His snow cloak ability was truly something to be feared in these conditions. He also seemed to know quite a few surprising moves. He seemed to have a counter for whatever could be thrown at him. Regardless, she was running out of Pokémon and needed to defeat Glaceon in order to get her question answered. Even getting one answer would be okay at this point, as it would give her something to go on.

She tried to command her Pokémon, but the infatuation was too strong and Milotic was just too enamored by Glaceon to listen to her. Deciding she didn't want to see her Pokémon hurt unnecessarily, she recalled her. In her head, Gardevoir spoke once more, "_As there are no substitutions, Milotic is unable to battle, please send out your next Pokémon."_

Cynthia grabbed her next pokeball and threw it, "Spiritomb, come out and battle! Start things off with a Dark Pulse."

As soon as Spiritomb appeared, she blasted the entire battlefield with dark balls of energy that sailed across the entire field, somehow though, none of them landed a direct hit on Glaceon, who was still nowhere to be found. At this, Cynthia began piecing the puzzle together, and all but confirmed her suspicions when Glaceon suddenly appeared below Spiritomb and launched a point blank Ice Beam into her face. After the attack, Glaceon disappeared before reappearing behind Spiritomb and following up with a Blizzard that knocked the ghost out of the battle.

Seeing her Pokémon defeated so quickly was shocking, but she had finally figured out Glaceon's secret. She did her best to keep a straight face as she recalled her Pokémon, as she didn't want her opponent to know that his trick had been discovered. With five Pokémon out, she was left with her final Pokémon, the strongest of all her Pokémon and the one she trusted the most. They had known each other for years and were the best of friends.

She turned to the Garchomp beside her and whispered something into her ear. When the conversing was done, Garchomp jumped onto the field. After several seconds, she covered the field with an intense Flamethrower. Before the attack was finished though, she broke it off and launched a full-powered Earthquake. The attack was fierce and incredibly powerful and managed to surprise her opponent. Before he could react to the attack, Glaceon was flung into the air where Garchomp intercepted him with a fierce Brock Break, launching him even further into the air. As he reached the peak of his flight, he was hit one final time by a Dragon Rush, before falling to the field unconscious.

Seeing the unconscious Glaceon, Cynthia let out a small smile. The smile grew to full size when the Pokémon was recalled, meaning that she had indeed defeated her opponent. She looked at her opponent with a smile and spoke, "That was quite the strategy you used. Your Glaceon's ability to use Dig was quite the surprise, since I can't hear your commands. However, following the dig with a small Blizzard to fill the hole in the snow layer back up was what made it take so long for me to realize your strategy. You made me believe it was your Glaceon's ability that made it so hard to hit, when in reality he was just hiding underground for most of the battle. You are indeed a terrific trainer, but according to our deal, I get one free question that you have to answer truthfully."

After another minute of silence, she was about to try talking again, but Gardevoir spoke up in her mind, "_Congratulations, I wasn't sure if you could figure out his strategy. However, you did figure it out and I commend you for it. As for the question, that was indeed the deal so ask your question and then we shall finish the battle. One thing you must know though, he cannot speak, so the question shall be answered through me."_

Now that she had the chance to get an answer to her questions, the hard part was figuring out what to ask. There were a lot of things she wanted to know, and she didn't think she would get anywhere with just one question. He had hinted that Team Rocket wasn't the true threat, but if she found out what was the true threat, all she would have was a name and that wouldn't help her much. She would need details, but details without a name were somewhat useless as well. She also knew that apparently she had once known him, probably before he got rid of his name. She was curious about that, but what good would knowing his old name do her? That would be even more useless than the rest of the questions she could think of asking.

After several more minutes of thinking, she was about to ask him to tell her everything he knew about what he considered the true threat when she got a different idea. His refusal to use his name must have some meaning behind it, like he was trying to hide something from her. There was a slight chance that if she knew his name, she could make things more personal and get more information out of him that way. It was a gamble, but if it paid off, she would get a lot more information than she would get from some other question.

After thinking things over for another several minutes, she couldn't feel her limbs any more. She could hear her teeth chattering and wasn't sure how much longer she could remain out there. She finally decided to take the gamble and ask her question. She turned to face the man and spoke as clearly as she could through the chill in the air and her body, "What was your name before you discarded it?"

Cynthia couldn't help but smile when she realized she had hit something that the man didn't want to have hit. He visibly tensed and showed the first sign of discomfort she had seen from him yet. She then turned to Gardevoir to await her answer.

Several minutes of silence later, Gardevoir finally spoke, "_As a deal is a deal, he shall reveal himself to you. However, he wishes to show you in his own way. He believes you are smart enough to figure it out with a few well-placed hints. If you haven't figured it out by the end of the battle, then I will tell you. Now, let us resume the battle, but first a change of weather, to make this a little more fun."_

As Gardevoir said it, the wind abated and the snow stopped. Cynthia looked up and saw the clouds disperse. She then looked in question at Gardevoir who just smiled, "_My master has many Pokémon who can control the weather, he decides the conditions on the mountain. For this final battle, he wants all things fair in terms of weather, instead opting to show you his true strength. This will be starter vs. starter, a fight to the finish"_

Cynthia wasn't quite sure what to think about that. His Glaceon, who apparently wasn't his starter, had defeated five of her strongest Pokémon. Even with an advantage, that was incredible. The thought of what this guy's starter could do was a rather scary thought. On the other hand, it was clear that he was someone she should know, so she would try to figure it out before the battle ended. Now that the weather had cleared, she could see the man more clearly.

He was definitely a man, but clearly hadn't been more than a boy for long. The age of this trainer surprised her, with his skill level, she had assumed him to be at least as old as her, probably closer to middle aged. However, he appeared to be a few years younger than her. With no wind, his black hair fell partway down his forehead in a rather messy pattern. She could also see he had brown eyes. The eyes appeared hard and determined, as well as sad and strong. She wasn't sure what to make of him, but she didn't have the time now to figure it out. Her eyes were then drawn to his well-defined cheekbones and facial structure. He had the face of someone who had been through a lot.

The thing that truly captured her attention though, was not on his face; it was on his neck. On his neck was a massive scar. It cut across it and made it appear as if someone had tried to slit his throat at some point. Based upon the look of the scar, she figured it was a miracle the man was alive. She could now understand why he didn't speak his commands, that wound had probably deprived him of his ability to speak.

After staring at him for several minutes, a small yellow rodent climbed onto his shoulder and Cynthia stumbled back a few steps. For a second, this man had reminded her of someone who had died seven years ago. An old acquaintance of hers who had had has his throat slit by Team Rocket… Cynthia paled and shook her head. It couldn't be him. There was no way it could be him. He was dead.

The man seemed to notice her discomfort and smiled at her with no humor at all before pointing to the field. As he pointed, the Pikachu hopped down and took a battle stance. That action snapped Cynthia back into reality as she ordered her Garchomp to return to the battlefield. The two Pokémon stared at each other before Pikachu disappeared.

Cynthia gasped at the Pokémon's speed and before she could issue a command, Pikachu reappeared and slammed an iron hard tail into Garchomp's face. The power of the blow sent her dragon staggering backwards several steps before Pikachu continued his assault with an equally speedy set of Brick Break's. After landing a few strong hits, Pikachu reappeared in front of his trainer and smirked.

Recovering from her shock, Cynthia called her move, "Garchomp, hit him with a Dragon Pulse. If he dodges, prepare a dragon rush to counter his move."

Garchomp nodded before launching a Dragon Pulse at Pikachu who promptly disappeared. Immediately, Garchomp was surrounded in a blue-green energy in order to counter any attack Pikachu might throw at her. Fast as lightning, Pikachu reappeared, covered in a yellow glow and running towards Garchomp while calling the first two syllables of his name in repetition. Cynthia smirked as she knew electric attacks wouldn't hurt her Pokémon, but then paled as she saw what was really happening. Pikachu's tail was also glowing white, and as he jumped at Garchomp, he spun to hit Garchomp with his tail. The electric attack had served to super power his Iron Tail and as the attack collided with Garchomp's, Pikachu won, blasting her dragon back nearly twenty feet before she fell to the ground unconscious.

Immediately, Pikachu ran onto his trainers shoulder and received a congratulatory pat on the back and an affectionate rub of the head.

Cynthia watched the display in amusement until something finally clicked. Her old acquaintance had died by having his throat slit by Team Rocket. This man looked to have miraculously survived the same kind of injury and also seemed to hate Team Rocket. She then remembered that they had never found her friends body. The similarities between the two were incredible and left her speechless.

Finally, after several seconds of trying to remember how to speak, she uttered a single word. A name. The name of a person she once knew who had done incredible things and loved his Pokémon more than anything else. The name of a boy who had died at the hands of Team Rocket yet somehow was still alive. She opened her mouth and uttered a single word.

"Ash."

**Well, there you have it. The first chapter. This took me forever to get right. This story is a lot harder to write than my first one, as this one isn't following a basic template that I've read dozens of variations of. What this means is that updates will be spread out a little more. I will try to update at least once a week, but I can't make any promises on that front. **

**For those who think Ash is overpowered, well, in that battle he is. However, without the advantages he held during that battle, he is only slightly more powerful than Cynthia. **

**Information on this so-called 'True Threat' will be in the next chapter. Ash's history about his scar and inability to speak will be in the third chapter. So far, that is all I have a rough draft of written. The story is planned, but because of the type of story and the quality I am trying to write it at, it is a slow process.**

**Also, don't worry; Ash can communicate, just not easily.**

**Anyways, I hope you guys like this story, and if not, oh well. As I said in the beginning, this is an Ash/Cynthia pairing. On the other hand, this is not a romantically driven story.**

**For those who don't know, I'm a huge fan of fan feedback. If you have any idea's, suggestions, or anything that you think could make this story better, please let me know. I won't promise to use your idea(s), but often time's just reading one idea can inspire something entirely new. Or I might end up using your idea.**

**If you want anything clarified, just ask me. Some things you will need to wait for future chapters to find out, but some things I can tell you and help you to understand if you need it.**

**If I made any errors in my writing, I don't use a beta and so they are all my fault. Please inform me in a polite manner and I will thank you and fix the problem as soon as I can.**

**I believe that covers everything. If you have anything to say or ask me, leave a review or PM. I will do my best to respond, but sometimes I do get a little busy. Also, if you have to say something that you don't think I'll like, saying it in a nice/polite manner is the way to go. At least if you want me to acknowledge it. I have no problem ignoring flames, but if you speak in an intelligent manner, I am much more likely to appreciate what you have to say.**

**That is all I have to say, so until next time, have fun.**

**Originally posted 6/26/2012**


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